The eighth season for the Poetry by the Sea Book Awards, given to the best poetry book published the previous year, is open as of January 2nd, 2026. The category is Best Book of 2025, and the winner will be awarded a prize of $500.
Submission Guidelines
Details:
1. Authors or publishers may nominate books. Book must have been published in 2025. Note: Books may contain individual translated poems but books in translation are not eligible.
2. Hard copies of entries are preferred although books may be submitted by pdf. Both types of submissions must be initiated via the Submittable link below. Please attach a pdf of the book and one of the cover to the Submittable form or mail hard copies to Linda Stern, 215 W 104th St #21, NY, NY 10025. [Note: Contest submissions are no longer fully digital, which is a CHANGE from last year.]
3. The entry fee of $50 is payable through Submittable [You do not need a Paypal account to enter]. Entries that are not accompanied by the appropriate payment will NOT be considered.
4. Deadline: March 2nd 2026
2026 Final Judge – Rachel Hadas
Rachel Hadas is the author of many books of poetry, essays, and translations, and the recipient of many honors and awards. Her most recent collection is Pastorals (2025); My Cloak Is Poetry: A Prosimetrum on Myth is forthcoming in 2026. Having taught at the Newark campus of Rutgers University for many years, she has put on a more editorial hat in her retirement, as poetry editor of The Classical Outlook and The Robert Graves Review, and book review editor of The Fortnightly Review. She still teaches private students, as well as occasional poetry workshops at the 92Y. She and her husband Shalom Gorewitz, with whom she collaborates on some of his film and video projects, divide their time between the Upper West Side of Manhattan and Danville, Vermont.
Thank you to the final judges, as well as to the poets who enter their fine work and continue to make this award possible.
2025 Chelsea Woodard
2024 Jane Satterfield
2023 Allison Joseph
2022 Ned Balbo
2021 Barbara Crooker
2020 Matt W. Miller
2019 Panel: Dan Brown, Moira Egan, Allison Joseph, Joshua Mehigan, Marilyn Taylor